how to shop when you're broke and have a family

Family of 7 here and filling those bellies can get expensive. First of all, I try my best to feed healthy meals but I don't want to teach my kids that there's "bad" food. Desserts are only on Friday and it's been as simple as homemade cookies or ice cream. They look forward to it and I can budget it. I try my best to not buy lunch meat. It's more per pound than if you buy a roast or whole chicken and roast and slice/shred it yourself. I typically roast 2 chickens and shred that for casseroles, salads, sandwiches every week. I do measure the amount I put into recipes as well. It goes a long way.

I use the KISS principle. Salads consist of lettuce (buy a head and clean it yourself, keep in ziploc bag with a paper towel) or spinach with tomatoes. Croutons (for them) if they are on sale. Salad dressing? I used to buy a variety but poppyseed dressing is what everyone likes and more than anything..they will eat it. I used to put things in it that I thought they should eat but they just picked it out and that's a waste.

I agree with the previous posts about breakfast cereal. Use oatmeal or if they don't like that, I use grits. I live in the south lol I just add wheat germ to it (they think it's butter) A protein at breakfast keeps them fuller without that sugar crash that breakfast cereals give. Greek yogurt drizzled with a little honey or jam is great. I even make fried rice for breakfast (a fave) Leftover rice with eggs and leftover veggies. Toast with peanut butter can be another option. Think outside the box and use the leftover veggies that's not enough for another meal but would make a great frittata or egg muffin. They can be made on the weekend and reheated through the week.

You really are going to have to start thinking about making a menu plan. There's so many ideas out there (pinterest) but most of them takes a little planning and prep work ahead of time. A menu plan saves time and money.

my kids love cereal, and cereal is fortified with lots of important vitamins. if you buy the generics/large bags, its a cheap breakfast. yay cereal!

Since you live in a rural area, are you able to purchase your eggs from a local farm? The price of eggs in the grocery store seem to have gone up quite a bit and that may be able to give you more bang for your buck. Also, maybe you could use your talents (sewing) and barter for other stuff like cuts of meat. I know that's way outside of the box thinking. I wouldn't normally suggest it but when I think of the great states of OK, I think about cattle farms and local, fresh farm food. Just a thought.

I make my husband an egg bake on the weekend for his breakfasts during the week. It's pretty simple. Eggs + cooked bacon + cheese + jalapeños (you could leave those off for the kiddos) and bake. I've also put them in muffin tins. You only need to reheat them for ~20 seconds in the morning. Super simple and super fast on busy school mornings. I've also baked bread (pumpkin bread this past weekend), pre-slice it and the kids either eat it cold or pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up. Add a side of fruit, and they're good to go.

I can see you are quite frugal. Maybe instead of buying those P3 snacks, you could buy those ingredients in bulk and get your kids to help prep them. You could leave out a block of cheese for ~30mins, so they can cut it easier. I'm sure the little one would love to count (or measure) how many nuts or cheese cubes into a baggie to portion it out.

I can definitely understand how many gallons of milk your family goes through. We go through about 2+ gallons a week. My husband and daughter love it! I know the milk topic has been a sensitive issue, but from a health standpoint, I will say that our pediatrician told us that our children should limit their calories with beverages to only at mealtimes. And when they are quenching their thirst, they should drink zero calorie beverages (ie, water). I didn't want to belabor the milk issue, but since you mentioned you wanted them to eat healthy, I figured that also included drinking health, too.

I hope this helps. Good luck! I think you are very creative to work with such a small budget. Thinking of you!!

ShelliesTrying wrote: »

I don't really know how to address your comment @madhatter2013 . I love my job and it's more of a career than "just" a job. I do not have a degree, I want to go school but I just can't swing that right now. I have been applying for a second job but haven't gotten one yet. I am doing what I can.

I am giving you kudos for your efforts. Job satisfaction and pride in your work is priceless. I have friends that make quite a bit of money and that didn't give them satisfaction with their job. Big high five on that point.

Are there co-ops on your area you could join?? Usually just a few dollars a month and get tons of stuff, usually in bulk. I get lots of rice, chick peas, carrots, flavored water, salad dressings to name just a few items.

I don't know if it has been mentioned, I did not read all the replies. There is a coop called bountiful baskets, it operates in certain states. Maybe you can check if they are in your area.
You can order 2 baskets of fruits and veggies for roughly $15 dollars.
The website is bountiful baskets.org.

Sorry if this is a repost (I'm not slogging through 7 pages to find out), but someone sent this to me. It's great--it's a cookbook of cheap and easy recipes:
https://8b862ca0073972f0472b704e2c0c21d0480f50d3.googledrive.com/host/0Bxd6wdCBD_2tdUdtM0d4WTJmclU/good-and-cheap.pdf

The over night steel cut oats is great - I didn't see anything about dried beans in the posts, I might take a couple days to soak & boil them. Add some cheap meat or sausage & serve with rice. Eastcoast Jim

Yeah I taught hubby to freeze bananas (peels them first) before they get mushy. He puts them frozen right in to his protein shakes.

I am not sure of your location, but in some areas, there are bountiful baskets food co-op. It's about $15 for a bunch of fruit and veggies. You can get breads and add-ons too. Sure helps me save on my grocery bill.

Not sure if this answers what to buy, but my wife and I utilize the savings catcher app at wal mart. So far it's saved us a nice chunk of change at wal mart this year.

enterdanger wrote: »

jgnatca wrote: »

mkakids wrote: »

Save every veggie scrap (wilted veggies, ends of carrots, onion skin, etc...) in a zip bag along with bones. When the bags full, dump it in a pot to make homemade stock. You can also save "good scraps" like the few pieces of carrots or bites of chicken that didnt get eaten at dinner to use in soup.

I keep this bag in the freezer. I roast the bones first for a richer flavour and I save the leafy bits from celery.

This. And if you have a leftover cheese rind like the waxy rind from a parmesan throw that in your stock too. Tastes amazing.

Oooooh, I am totally stealing the cheese rind idea. I made a bean stew this week, totally my own creation, from all the leftover bits of root vegetables on hand. I used pinto beans because I had them, shiitake mushrooms, tomato, turnip, potato, carrot, yam, and the last of my red quinoa. The night before I made the stew, I boiled the bones I've been saving up. Before serving, I took a couple cups of the stew out and blended it with the hand blender, to thicken the whole thing up.

I didn't read through every single comment so sorry if this has already been asked but, is there an Aldi in your area? I shop at Aldi every week for a family of 5. I spend about 70-80 dollars a week. Considering how expensive groceries can be thats very cheap.